The awards ceremony will be held on 3 November. This year prizes went to individuals and associations fighting modern forms of slavery, including an Indian who saved 72,000 victims of trafficking and an NGO that freed 30,000 slave workers in Karnataka.

This yearâ€™s Mother Teresa Memorial Award, dedicated to the memory of the Saint of Kolkata, went to a number of people from India and abroad, including an Indian activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for his work against child labour, a US medical association fighting organ trafficking, especially in China; and an organisation that saves Yazidi women and girls exploited by the Islamic State (IS) group.

The Harmony Foundation announced the laureatesâ€™ names yesterday. The awards will be presented in Mumbai on 3 November. According to the Foundation, which established the prize, awardees are social activists renowned for their humanitarian work against modern forms of slavery and for victim rehabilitation.

At present, slavery is a sad reality that afflicts millions of people around the world. Todayâ€™s forms include child labour, child exploitation, sexual exploitation, slavery, forced labour, organ removal and trafficking.

For Dr Abraham Mathai, founder and chairman of the Harmony Foundation, â€œSlavery is a man-made curse on humanity and affects us all.â€

There are in fact, 40.3 million slavery victims in the world; 71 per cent of them are women and children. This means that 10,000 people must be rescued every day to eradicate slavery over the next decade.